Ironman attempt

I have resurrected my blog to share the final weeks of training leading to the June 28 Ironman in Coeur d Alene, ID (IMCDA).  I think enough folks will find these reports interesting enough to make the postings worthwhile.  The workouts are long now, will get longer and peak in a few weeks, then I will start the taper.

River Tales

Jeff and I had a great trip down the Mississippi River covering a stretch upstream from Brainerd.

Wildlife along the River. The terrain changed dramatically during the 30 mile trip: rocks and small stones the first 10 miles, sand the next 10 and farmland with dirt/mud banks the last 10. As we neared Aitkin, the end of our trip, there were many dairy farms with pastures that allowed the dairy cows to walk to the river and drink. Cattle are pretty docile and didn't seem to care much about us floating by.

Nine miles upstream from Aitkin is the River's only diversion dam. In the early 1900s, the town of Aitkin was flooded twice and this dam was then constructed. It is an "overflow" dam that diverts the water around the town; once it reaches a certain height it flows over the dam into a manmade diversion channel. The dam is two stages with a slightly higher dam, a dip area, and then a lower secondary dam. It was constructed of boulders encased in cement. The purpose of the two dams is probably to slow the water flow.


There were constantly deadheads, dead trees, in the water to paddle around and many sandbars and rock outcroppings due to the low water, typical for August. The water was very clean and we used my Katadyn water filter pump to fill our water bottles. It filters out bacteria and sediment and the water tasted very good. Since we had no portages or rapids we loaded up the canoe with a lot of food and clothing, might was well be comfortable. It rained on our morning trip up, but not at all while we were on the River. Day one was cloudy and day two sunny to partly cloudy,
There are designated campsites about every 25 miles along the Upper Miss, maintained by the Minnesota DNR. This was the one we stayed at. It had been freshly mowed and had a table, laterine, and a large fairly flat area for tents. It set up on a high bank overlooking the River bend.

We saw deer, ducks, cows :-), fish, a bald eagle (no photo) and this bird which we believe was a Golden Eagle, or possibly a young Bald Eagle. It was brown and didn' t have the traditional Bald Eagle markings of a white head, tail and yellow beak. We chased it up the River for many miles. It was a very large bird whatever it was.

Small mouth bass
Bigger small mouth, bass 14 inches in length, weight uncertain. The bass loved the Shad lures, a fake minnow with a flippy tail and single hook.
Northern Pike, tons o fun to catch, mighty fighters. Red and white daredevils always work, and did in the Miss. All fish we caught were released.
An old railroad bridge showing how low the water was. About 10 feet below the recent Spring level it appeared.
Unloading at Palisade at the start of our trip, 30 miles up from Aitkin. The first day we covered 7 river miles, the second day the fishing slowed and we made good time so got in 23 river miles. Our choice for a second night campsite was unaccessible due to erosion so we went on into Aitkin, went into town for pizza and headed home to our nice soft beds. I think I am getting way too old for many more nights of sleeping on the ground :-) .

The weather was perfect for canoeing with daytime temps in the 60s, while scattered frost was predicted we are not sure how cold it was at night, but we were warm in our sleeping bags sleeping in sox and t-shirts. We surprisingly only saw one other boat on the River. No bugs on the water, wind at our backs 90 % of the time, and the fishing was better than we thought, a great trip to end the summer!

Tri season ends !!!

Swim, bike and run.... for fun !

Since my last posting dealt with the upcoming Tri season it is appropriate to get the blog going again. It has been an interesting year to date. My father passed away May 17 and that has changed my life in many ways. On just about every free weekend I have went to Des Moines to help Mom keep her life on track, which she is doing well. I help her with what household repairs I can and last weekend we trekked to Branson, one of her favorite vacation destinations.

The photos below are from the Brewhouse Tri in Duluth on Aug 2. Photo compliments of Lisa, thanks ! That was a very good event and a good test of my tri conditioning up to that point. The only real negative factor are the rough roads with many potholes and unfilled deep cracks. A person gets jarred on the bike pretty good.

Most days this Summer I have worked out 1-2 hrs per day either swimming, biking, running or at yoga class. Swims have been in local lakes and my purchase of a new wetsuit, Blue 70 Reaction, earlier this year has greatly helped my swimming. All swims are now a minimum of one mile, more than I am used to, but manageable for me. Added buoyancy is the primary benefit of a wetsuit: keeping the hips and legs raised so the body tracks in a flatter line, plus the suit has a slick outer shell reducing drag. The drawback in the added time it takes to remove it before the bike. Most say that for swims of over 1/4 mile it is a positive trade-off to wear one. I love swimming in this suit and am very glad I finally bit the bullet and purchased it at Gear West, although there was a great deal of buyer's remorse. A year ago I also bought a used Trek 1500 road bike that has greatly helped my times. The narrow tires with 100 lbs of air, lighter weight and aerobars are very beneficial to faster times with the same physical output.

The start of the run, the final event, at the Brewhouse. The trick here is to leave enough "umpf" in the legs from the bike to be able to give it a good effort, while getting as high of a biking pace as possible.

In this pic you'll see all three events, me coming out of the lake; stepping carefully over the pebbles on the asphalt, a lady entering on her bike, and another taking off for her run. Tris start in 5 - 24 waves depending on the number of entrants, based on age and gender. My first tri this year at Buffalo had 24 waves and today there were six. As a result there are racers coming and going for each event at varying times.

The start of the swim in Duluth. A gray, cool day, but perfect for racing.

Today's tri was the Lakes Country at Baxter. My tri friend Terry and I went up the prior night and got a hotel room, carbed up on pasta and hit the sack early. At the Brewhouse, I lost much energy the second lap of the bike and thought it was partially due to a lack of calorie intake the days prior, so focused on a good calorie, and carb, intake for this race. The two nights prior I also got ten and nine hours of sleep, well rested.

My goal for tri races this season was to finish in the back of the middle of the pack, having been far back in prior years. winter training was hampered by numerous injuries but I still felt this goal was realistic. For this race, I had very specific time goals having run the race two years prior.

Distances were: 1/2 mile swim, 17.3 mile bike and 3.9 mi run

2007

swim tran 1 bike tran 2 run ttl time

20:28 3:49 1 hr 4 mn 1:08 43:02 2:12:58

Est projections

19 3 52 1 39 1:54

2009

17:22 2:24 53:44 :46 38:53 1:53:07

finished 210 out of 300 finishers, back of the middle of the pack.

My goals for this race were to hit the swim and bike as hard as I felt I could, while leaving enough energy for the run, hoping to get under a 10 min pace, and cut my transition times. Since a person spends the most time on the bike, and my running is my weakest event, this plan seemed reasonable, and worked!

While sitting home the week before the race I penciled out what paces I felt I could do; note the projections above. These figures were from the Duluth Tri finishing times and based on the fact that I had maintained my conditioning between the two events. As you will see, I met most of these goal times, and for those of you who are avid runners, you will see my deficiency is my running, so that will be this winter's focus.

Lower transition times were due to changes not wearing socks and wearing the singlet under the wetsuit. I can also reduce another 30 - 40 sec by buying speed shoe laces removing the task of having to tie shoes and allowing them to be slipped on. At those trans times I will be very content.

Today's weather was perfect with a sunny sky, low wind and finishing temps in the mid 60s.

I have enjoyed the three tris I finished this Summer and will admit I am very disappointed to see the three month season end, but I have many other interests I can now focus on, and a month or so break will do me good physically. No major aches or pains, but...occasional aches in both feet, the left achilles, left groin and shoulders, so yes, the body could use a break. But I will maintain conditioning with many weekly workouts and weekly 1 -2 yoga classes. This winter I will also add regular weight workouts at my gym, Golds in Monticello, and of course there's that five lbs of body weight I could loose.

Tri Season getting close !

Last year after the Green Lake Tri in Spicer, MN, my first olympic distance tri, still smilin "  !

A rare race when I actually wasn't last !

Tri season is getting closer, and it's tough to imagine with a high temp today of 5, above !  Registration submitted for only the Buffalo Tri so far, on June 7, I am looking at others that fill up quickly, and I will consider the ones that don't fill during the season, see how much time I have and how well the legs hold up !  

I am very excited about the Buffalo Tri, it was my first ever, and this will be my third time on the sprint distance course.  Last year, I took about nine minutes off my 2007 time, next attempt I am hoping for 1:30 which will be seven min less, a realistic goal with my new road bike, sticking with my training plan, and some luck....1:30 will be doable.  1/4 mi swim, 12 mi bike, 5 K run.  

My game plan will be to warm up much more than in the past for the swim, have been deficient in the past here, quick transitions, hit the bike really hard, and keep a steady running pace, if I can accomplish these goals I'll be close to 1:30.  Achieving that time I would actually be almost midpack, rather than worrying about finishing last, which I never have done.  If I can find a small enough tri this year I could possibly place in the top three my age group....     :-)   ...but won't at Buffalo.

With a short run a person can push the bike pretty hard; the run course is completely flat while the bike course has some tough hills.  This is a fairly new tri, but advertised as the third largest in Minn now, very well run, close to home, and the racer's packet has lots of goodies, in past have gotten a sun visor, carry bag, t-shirt and water bottle of course, and a free lunch after for racers.  

  

Winterwonderland

 Recent pics from snowshoeing on a local trail that I get out to alot.  Loving the new snowshoes and they seem to be "body friendly" which is increasingly important as I progress on past the age of 52.  This day was one of those ultra-cold days a few weeks ago when the temps peaked at about 5 above for the high.   Many clothes required, yet once I get out of the parking lot and into the woods, and on this trail 95% of the time is in tree protection, I was dressed perfectly.  No fancy hitech fabrics, just a compilation of running clothes that I have from years of winter running, with the right amount of layers they still work perfectly keeping me warm, dry, n happy.

Stops for pics were brief and regretful as the cold seeped in, and any sweat chilled.

I didn't feel as much in shock as this pic looks at the end of the hour trek.

Have a good week !

Holiday trip

Photos from Jeff and my trip to Corpus Christi, TX visiting family.  My Mom and Dad staying with my Sis in her house and Jeff and I at Island House condo on the beach.  Photo above are walnut, chocolate chip cookies made for the trip.

View from our condo looking north up the Gulf beach

Our fishing boat

Jeff and Dalton, his friend from HS who was staying nearby with his Grandpa, they were also down for Xmas break.

The boat's catch for the 8 hr trip, we went out 2 1/2 hrs into the Gulf, about 30 miles out, fishing in 80 - 120 ' water.  Windy day with waves 6 - 8 '.

Sand shark Dalton caught, weight 70 #.  The four of us also went out 2 yrs ago and another guy caught a 120# shark on that trip.

Another tough day of fishin'

View from our condo looking down the seawall, beach immediately below the 5 ' sea wall.

Xmas gifts from Mom, all she knitted.  Right one is from Juaquetta's yarn and other Wlmart yarn.

Sunrise.......can you tell why I keep returning to this beach year after year when it's a high of 5 here in lovely Minn, why do we live here again?   .......oh yeah....quality of life?

Election Day !

Woke this morning at 4:30 am, was on the road by 4:45 dressed in running shoes, sox, tights, long sleeved polly top, singlet, headband and poly gloves.

I have been dealing with a hip pain/strain the last few weeks, so today's run was to be a test run. My thoughts were to head out, if the pain came on then I would cut it short, or walk home if necessary. Yesterday, I swam after work and then had yoga class. Yoga seems to not aggravate the hip pain, but combining biking and running does....so haven't biked for 2 weeks. Also, the Saturday morning yoga class combines in some palates which strained it more. It has taken a long time to build up my running, at 52 when you loose it, it is not easy to regain that conditioning.

I typically run this 4.5 miles loop with a 5 min warmup walk and 5 min cooldown. Also, today I shortened the loop a bit by running a square route, rather than following the lake shore all of the way. This also cuts out one of the three large hills. Usually during the first 10 - 20 steps one can tell how much energy they will have, how good the run will be. I felt great, got thru the first mile, heart rate up, light sweat, the second mile the heart rate lowered, relax the arms, lower the shoulders and turn over the legs, let them roll as the early morning commuters head off to work passing by on the street.

This loop is the same that our annual town festival uses for their 8 K run, which they advertise as "the State's flattest 8K." The first major hill came, it starts slow, builds and steepens before peaking. This past winter I was injured for most of the months and have been very slowly building back up for all of 2008. The hills in this loop I always have walked this year, today, however, with the temp right at 50, and I felt very good. Breathing was easy, arms relaxed and low, heart rate down, legs strong, so I pressed into the hill, leaning forward a bit, lifting the knees, slowing some....reached the peak and relaxed into the downhill.....yeah !

This stretch is mostly dark, between streetlights. I have been using a headlamp and it works well. I keep it on for this half of the run as it goes in and out of darkness. Looking up.....bright stars are clearly visible as I run the sidewalk along the lakeshore. A few other hearty souls are out also.....the cop car I see each time out at this hour.... passes....I wave....never know when that wave will pay dividends... :-).

The next hill approaches, still feeling strong I leaned forward, lifting the knees, over the peak and down hill.....relax and keep the legs churning. The last stretch follows a major highway, altho on a sidewalk, still along the lake. Past the bar where the employees are arriving to open up........ and into town, past Holiday....past the City offices....lights on getting the polling booths ready "do we have enuf ballotts?"........no lines of voters yet.....past the church ...."thank you god for the ability to run...." two more blocks and stop to let a pickup truck cross, no need to see how well his brakes work....another two blocks and done, walk to cool down the last two blocks, gloves come off........the entire run was non-stop for first time in 2008....yeah ! And no hip pain.......It feels so good to be in good running shape, albeit lower mileage a very good feeling to be able to manage this loop without stops for walking, and at a decent pace. Shower, eat, off to the park n ride and bus it into the Big City for work....another day in paradise folks !

Enjoy your week !